Warm Breakfasts to Soothe the Winter Blues

Breakfast is well known as the most important meal of the day. That being said, you may not have that thought in mind when you stumble from bed on a cold winter's morning. It can sometimes be tough to resist the lazy impulse to simply pop some bread in the toaster and settle for buttered toast, rather than cook up something hardy and filling. For mornings like this, you need something warm that doesn't require a great deal of preparation (especially important for the non-early bird types!). This article has some great breakfast recipes that are tasty whether you prepare them fresh in the morning or the day before.

In a bowl, mix together the dry ingredients (flour, baking powder and soda, salt, sugar). When this is mixed, grate the frozen butter or drop small clumps of Crisco into the mixture. Start working it in with your fingers until the mix resembles coarse meal. Add raisins/fruit. In another bowl, whisk the sour cream and egg together. Add sour cream mixture to the "meal" and blend with a fork&#8212;this will make the mixture clump up. Using your fingers as a cup, scoop a bit of the mixture and knead it against the bowl until the moisture spreads through the dough ball. On a floured surface, mold the mass into the desired shape (round, triangular, rectangular, etc.). Do the same with the rest of the mixture, placing the scones on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper. Leave about an inch of room between scones. Bake at 400 degrees F for about 15 minutes. Let them cool slightly before serving, or place in an air-tight container to be enjoyed the following morning.

Biscuits and Sausage Gravy (Heart attack on a bun, but YUM)

1 can of ready-to-bake Biscuits1 cup Maple-Flavored Ground SausageWhite Pepper Gravy (as thick or thin as you usually make it)

This one is super-easy! Pre-heat the oven to thetemperature directed on the biscuits package and put the biscuits in the oven. In a skillet, fully cook the sausage meat, adding salt and pepper if desired. Drain the excess grease from the meat. Make the white pepper gravy per the instructions on the package (make any necessary adjustments to obtain your preferred thickness). Add the sausage to the gravy. When the biscuits are done, serve open-faced with a nice ladle-full of gravy. Enjoy!

Mix all of the ingredients in the slow cooker and set it on "low" heat. Let it cook for a minimum of eight hours&#8212;overnight is best!

All of these recipes can easily be prepared the day beforeand are ready to eat (re-heated or not) in the morning. Soyou see you don't have to settle for toast when you canhave something toasty warm and long-lasting to jump startyour energy. You may even find that a nice morning meal can work wonders in helping you brave the wintry season!